In the past, various devices have been employed for cleaning the individual cylinders in printing presses, particularly the blanket cylinders in offset presses. U.S. Pat. No. 2,525,982, for example discloses a web-type cleaner that may be urged against a cylinder by a pad or wick through a mechanical cam or lever actuating arrangement. In German Pat. No. DE-PS 3,005,469 a web-like cleaner is urged against a cylinder by a pressurized chamber.
It is also known from the prior art, such as Swiss Pat. No. CH-PS647,7l8 that a number of cylinders of a printing press can be consecutively cleaned with separate washing devices which can be joined to form an overall cleaning unit. A somewhat different approach is disclosed in German Pat. No. DE-PS 11 79 223 wherein a printing press cylinder is "dry cleaned" with an electrically charged web which may itself be solvent cleaned, dried, brushed or otherwise charged before being brought back into contact with the cylinder. This reference also disclosed such an arrangement for cleaning both a blanket cylinder and an inking roller for feeding ink to a plate cylinder.